basketball rpi

St. John’s and Marquette, which both went 16-14 and were knocked out in the first round of the Big East tournament, will likely be left out.
In the past, both teams could expect a WNIT bid, but that might not happen this season.
The postseason WNIT picks a team from each of the 31 Division I conferences, with 17 at-large bids. The tournament began to choose its field that way last year when it expanded to 48. Marquette, with the better conference record, would get the automatic berth and St. John’s would have to sweat out an at-large bid.
Hartford may have played a high-quality nonconference schedule against teams such as UConn, Michigan State, Marist, Virginia, BYU, St. John’s and Kansas, but its conference schedule — plus losses to UMass and BU — would likely cost the Hawks an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament if they lose in the America East final today.
According to collegerpi.com, the Hawks are 57th in the RPI, with the 188th strongest schedule. This season, only three America East teams — Hartford, Vermont and Boston University — had winning regular season records. Last year, after losing to UMBC in the America East final, Hartford was in better shape RPI-wise, finishing 47th with a strength of schedule ranking of 96th. But the Hawks still didn’t make the NCAA Tournament, going to the WNIT instead.

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